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Dodgers’ Mookie Betts optimistic about quick return from oblique injury

April 7, 2026

TORONTO — A day after going on the injured list with an oblique injury, Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts was optimistic it would not be for long.

“I feel great. Honestly, I don’t even really notice that it hurts,” Betts said. “I mean, I’ll have to do, like, certain movements (for it to hurt), but it’s very specific movements. So yeah. I think we’re in a much better spot than originally anticipated.”

Betts based some of his optimism on his previous experience with an oblique strain in 2018 (his MVP season). That time he missed two weeks at the end of May and early June.

“Much less severe than that,” he said of this injury. “I should be back a little quicker than that.”

The 2018 injury, Betts said, occurred on a pre-game swing in the batting cages. This time, he’s not even sure when it happened.

“I just took off running. I’m not sure how or what happened,” said Betts, who drew a walk in the first inning of Saturday’s game and scored from first base on a double by Freddie Freeman. “Day was normal. Everything was normal. So I have no idea.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spun that uncertainty as a positive.

“I think it’s a good thing that he really doesn’t know how he hurt it,” Roberts said. “I would still argue that it’s from the checked swing (during Betts’ plate appearance). But I think he feels he did it running, which is, when you look at the oblique, that doesn’t happen very often. But that there’s no one point – I think that’s a good thing.”

Betts said he has no timeline for starting to swing a bat or returning to action other than “just as fast as possible.” His activity level will depend “on how it’s feeling day to day.”

“But I mean, from day one – I guess it was two days ago – to now, I mean, I’m light years ahead of where I thought I was going to be, so we’re in a good spot,” he said. “But obviously, I know I need to be smart with obliques. They can kind of linger around, so be smart about it. But I’m not trying to take my time or anything, I want to play.”

POW PAGES

Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages was named the National League Player of the Week after starting the season on a tear.

Over the six games before Monday, Pages hit .583 with a 1.532 OPS, two home runs and seven RBIs. He had multiple hits in five of the six games and he went into Monday’s game leading the majors in batting average (.471 for the season) and hits (16).

DOUBLE DUTY

Dalton Rushing got a second consecutive start at catcher on Monday. Will Smith got the back-to-back days off because Roberts only wants to play him two of the three games in Toronto.

“It was just more of looking at the schedule and trying to get Dalton in there one game. And I really wanted Will to catch (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto and Shohei (Ohtani),” Roberts said, referring to the Dodgers’ scheduled starting pitchers Tuesday and Wednesday. “It just made sense. He’ll play two of three this series and two of three the next series when we get home.”

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Dodgers (RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 1-1, 3.00 ERA) at Blue Jays (RHP Kevin Gausman, 0-0, 0,75 ERA), Tuesday, 4 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA, TBS, 570 AM

Orange County Register

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Dodgers’ Mookie Betts optimistic about quick return from oblique injury

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DOUBLE DUTY

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